Zion National Park celebrates 100 years

Laura Joss, deputy director of the National Park Service's Intermountain Region, said the park's biggest threat now is apathy. A new generation must be educated about the importance of preserving such wild places.

"We have to reaffirm our determination to make others care about the park for now and the future," she said.

Zion's importance as a scenic refuge was reaffirmed earlier this year when Congress passed a bill designating 85 percent of the park as wilderness and the Virgin River inside Zion as Utah's first Wild and Scenic River.